My journey towards reconciliation began many years ago and continues to this day. During our class I took a lot of education into account, and the knowledge from different presenters educated my knowledge even more. The individuals’ personal experiences helped me better comprehend people’s worldviews and why history is the way it is. Assimilation was a concept that was frequently used in this course, and it greatly influenced my journey. Western cultures exploited assimilation in indigenous cultures in a variety of ways. Residential Schools demonstrates what Joseph said about it and his experiences. A lot of subjects were explored and discussed in class, and I learned a lot before this course. Each subject had a hand in shaping my journey and assisting me in creating my aesthetic image.
I decided to make a dream catcher, instead of hanging feathers down from the circular area of the dream catcher was words, names, or titles that helped pave my journey. These terms include Animals, Indian horse, Turtle Island, 7 Ojibway Teachings, Every Child Matters, Medicine Wheel, Residential Schools, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman (MMIWG), Assimilation, Joseph Naytowhow, and Unmarked Graves. The reason I made the dream catcher is because it represents protection from nightmares and only allows good dreams to go through to the heads of people while sleeping. To me this represents protection. I think it is our jobs to protect people including Indigenous peoples in Canada. Especially as a future teacher I want to protect all the students in my classroom from prejudices, stereotypes, and racism. I know that the world can be a cruel place, but in my classroom, I want each and every student to feel safe and welcome. “As white possessions, we argue that schools and classrooms are organised in such a way as to maintain unequal power relations- to keep schools, classrooms, curriculum and methods of instruction culturally ‘white’, Euro-western” (Pirbhai-Illich & Martin, 2019). I believe that this is not the way to make the minority groups comfortable, and it is important to bring and allow other cultural values into the classroom. Conforming to this would give the power to assimilation.
I felt positive energy when crafting this dream catcher. It helped me relax and focus, allowing me to ignore any distractions or worries in my life. It made me think about things that are important in my life, and how everyone’s lives could be better if there was peace between people. Joseph Naytowhow’s lecture made me put a lot of things into perspective, and after listening to his lecture I decided to go to his website. On the front page of his website he said, “I teach people to respect the old ways while embracing congruent contemporary ones. I encourage young and old to nurture the very best inside themselves and to build bridges rather than focus on differences” (Naytowhow, N.D.). This resonated with me because I feel that everyone has an opinion, and instead of disputing and arguing about different worldviews and ideas, we should simply accept each other, even if we hold opposing viewpoints. Joseph speaking this truth helped me realize that it is okay to think like this. Everyone should be able tot openly express their stories without feeling judgement from others, and Joseph being so transparent about his family and Residential Schools helps students like me to have courage to speak about different experiences. By inviting students to share their stories, I hope to establish a trusting relationship with them and demonstrate that I pay attention to them.
Indian Horse was never presented in this class, but I took a course that required my classmates and I to watch this movie. As insignificant as a film may appear, it had a significant impact on me. It shifted my perspective on Indigenous peoples in Canada. Before seeing this film, I felt sympathetic, but I did not know the full narrative of what happened when European settlers settled on Turtle Island and constructed Residential Schools to colonize Indigenous children in barbaric ways. After seeing the film, I came to a number of new conclusions concerning these schools. The reason I did not realize what happened at these institutions was because no teacher told us how horrible it was during my education instead, they sought to brush it under the rug. It is critical to teach what truly occurred rather than enabling them to discover it later in life, if at all. “My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture” (McIntosh, 1989). Reading this is sad because so many students and people in Canada are ignorant to what is right and wrong without the proper education to educate them on the history of Canada. Learning the oppressed and the oppressor is hard to understand when there is no one teaching us who and what each signify. The Indian Horse connected to topics that we talked about in class, and when hearing Joseph speak, I had a visual in my head instead of trying to imagine his families time in these schools. When we talked about assimilation, I had this image in my head to help me understand the concept and provide me examples of integration. As hard as it is to watch I think it is important for everyone to eventually watch in their lives.
All the concepts and topics I wrote on my dream catcher had a big impact on my journey towards reconciliation. Some shaped more than others, but in the end they all did their part to the continuous journey for me. Some of the major factors were the term assimilation, Joseph sharing his personal experience, and the movie Indian horse. These made me realize and understand the history of Canada, and the Indigenous in Canada. In helped me put a visual into my head of what I want in my classroom, and how I want to help children feel safe and welcomed. Bringing in speakers to talk about different stories is something I would like to do because it would introduce other cultural beliefs. Bringing in guest speakers might help students feel more at ease while sharing their tales and establishes trusted relationships.
My journey towards reconciliation began many years ago and continues to this day. During our class I took a lot of education into account, and the knowledge from different presenters educated my knowledge even more. The individuals’ personal experiences helped me better comprehend people’s worldviews and why history is the way it is. Assimilation was a concept that was frequently used in this course, and it greatly influenced my journey. Western cultures exploited assimilation in indigenous cultures in a variety of ways. Residential Schools demonstrates what Joseph said about it and his experiences. A lot of subjects were explored and discussed in class, and I learned a lot before this course. Each subject had a hand in shaping my journey and assisting me in creating my aesthetic image.
I decided to make a dream catcher, instead of hanging feathers down from the circular area of the dream catcher was words, names, or titles that helped pave my journey. These terms include Animals, Indian horse, Turtle Island, 7 Ojibway Teachings, Every Child Matters, Medicine Wheel, Residential Schools, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman (MMIWG), Assimilation, Joseph Naytowhow, and Unmarked Graves. The reason I made the dream catcher is because it represents protection from nightmares and only allows good dreams to go through to the heads of people while sleeping. To me this represents protection. I think it is our jobs to protect people including Indigenous peoples in Canada. Especially as a future teacher I want to protect all the students in my classroom from prejudices, stereotypes, and racism. I know that the world can be a cruel place, but in my classroom, I want each and every student to feel safe and welcome. “As white possessions, we argue that schools and classrooms are organised in such a way as to maintain unequal power relations- to keep schools, classrooms, curriculum and methods of instruction culturally ‘white’, Euro-western” (Pirbhai-Illich & Martin, 2019). I believe that this is not the way to make the minority groups comfortable, and it is important to bring and allow other cultural values into the classroom. Conforming to this would give the power to assimilation.
I felt positive energy when crafting this dream catcher. It helped me relax and focus, allowing me to ignore any distractions or worries in my life. It made me think about things that are important in my life, and how everyone’s lives could be better if there was peace between people. Joseph Naytowhow’s lecture made me put a lot of things into perspective, and after listening to his lecture I decided to go to his website. On the front page of his website he said, “I teach people to respect the old ways while embracing congruent contemporary ones. I encourage young and old to nurture the very best inside themselves and to build bridges rather than focus on differences” (Naytowhow, N.D.). This resonated with me because I feel that everyone has an opinion, and instead of disputing and arguing about different worldviews and ideas, we should simply accept each other, even if we hold opposing viewpoints. Joseph speaking this truth helped me realize that it is okay to think like this. Everyone should be able tot openly express their stories without feeling judgement from others, and Joseph being so transparent about his family and Residential Schools helps students like me to have courage to speak about different experiences. By inviting students to share their stories, I hope to establish a trusting relationship with them and demonstrate that I pay attention to them.
Indian Horse was never presented in this class, but I took a course that required my classmates and I to watch this movie. As insignificant as a film may appear, it had a significant impact on me. It shifted my perspective on Indigenous peoples in Canada. Before seeing this film, I felt sympathetic, but I did not know the full narrative of what happened when European settlers settled on Turtle Island and constructed Residential Schools to colonize Indigenous children in barbaric ways. After seeing the film, I came to a number of new conclusions concerning these schools. The reason I did not realize what happened at these institutions was because no teacher told us how horrible it was during my education instead, they sought to brush it under the rug. It is critical to teach what truly occurred rather than enabling them to discover it later in life, if at all. “My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture” (McIntosh, 1989). Reading this is sad because so many students and people in Canada are ignorant to what is right and wrong without the proper education to educate them on the history of Canada. Learning the oppressed and the oppressor is hard to understand when there is no one teaching us who and what each signify. The Indian Horse connected to topics that we talked about in class, and when hearing Joseph speak, I had a visual in my head instead of trying to imagine his families time in these schools. When we talked about assimilation, I had this image in my head to help me understand the concept and provide me examples of integration. As hard as it is to watch I think it is important for everyone to eventually watch in their lives.
All the concepts and topics I wrote on my dream catcher had a big impact on my journey towards reconciliation. Some shaped more than others, but in the end they all did their part to the continuous journey for me. Some of the major factors were the term assimilation, Joseph sharing his personal experience, and the movie Indian horse. These made me realize and understand the history of Canada, and the Indigenous in Canada. In helped me put a visual into my head of what I want in my classroom, and how I want to help children feel safe and welcomed. Bringing in speakers to talk about different stories is something I would like to do because it would introduce other cultural beliefs. Bringing in guest speakers might help students feel more at ease while sharing their tales and establishes trusted relationships.